14 Second Year Part 7

Kaiser waited by an empty classroom for a few of his friends to join. The first to arrive were Michael, Tracey and Daphne, who looked annoyed to be summoned without being told the reason, taking away her precious time in the library.

"So, why did you call for us here?" Daphne asked, clearing conveying her reluctance at being here.

"Not now. Wait for the others." Kaiser said mysteriously, gazing into the starry sky through the window. Albeit Daphne didn't buy, she decided to humor him for now.

A while later, Cedric Diggory, accompanied by Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones arrived. Then, a few minutes afterwards, the twin pranksters Fred and George Weasley came in, along with Hermione Granger. Kaiser turned to his guests.

"Thank you all for coming to this extraordinarily top secret meeting." Kaiser began seriously. "What you're about to witness today is going to change the shape of wizard kind! An invention, unlike any other! Giving you the ability to peer through the time dimension itself! Behold! The Runic watch!" he took out one of the several watches he prepared before hand. Though, the rest of them were only watching him silently, questioning his sanity.

"I was expecting applause." Kaiser told them. "But I suppose stunned silence is equally appropriate." (A/N: Totally from the Big Bang Theory.)

"Correct us"

"If we're wrong"

"But did you just say"

"a watch?" Fred and George asked.

"Mm." Kaiser nodded.

"Sorry to break it to you mate"

"But that's nothing new"

"I believe the simple fact that the term for 'watch' exists"

"proves it is not a new device." Fred and George explained. Their ability to finish each other's sentences was definitely annoying.

"Aha! That's where you are wrong. You see, this here, is a hundred percent, fully magical, non mechanical, runic watch!" Kaiser exclaimed grandly.

"He's right." Cedric said in deep thought. "This is different. A runic watch means that the price for a watch can be reduced to a few sickles, depending on the materials used. The best watches are only partially magical and cost a lot. Not to mention they are a luxury product." there was a gleam in Daphne's eyes, gone unnoticed by everyone else. She was probably making plans of her own.

Kaiser impressed at Cedric's knowledge. 'I guess there is a reason why he was chosen by The Goblet of Fire after all…' He explained the watch's features to them, and the correct way to use it.

"Any particular reason why you're giving us the watches, by the way?" asked Michael suspiciously.

"I'm glad you asked. You, my friends," He gestured to them. "are the chosen ones. The beta testers for my new product!"

"Wait wait wait… Did you just say YOU MADE THESE?" Cedric asked in astonishment.

"Yep." Kaiser grinned.

"That is amazing! And you don't even study Runes! You're a second year for Merlin's sake!" he exclaimed again.

"Is this what you��ve been doing all that time when you disappear." Tracey asked sheepishly.

"Yes… See how ridiculous your claims have been?" Kaiser told her jokingly.

"So, we're all gonna pretend we know what a "beta tester" is?" Hannah asked them, before they turned to Kaiser, waiting for an explanation.

"Though probably not an appropriate term for this situation, being a beta tester means you'll use the product, and try to uncover any 'bug', meaning malfunctions it may have, and report them to me so I can fix them in finalized product. You may also make suggestions for features you think would be appreciated." Kaiser explained to them. "The enchantments will last around a month though."

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Kaiser stood in the RoR, though in one part of it he never requested before: The Room Of Lost Things, where house elves placed everything that's been forgotten or unused for a long time. He came here only for one reason: brooms.

The Quiddich World Cup is approaching, and Kaiser intended very much to use that fact to his benefit. Making a broom, especially one that could challenge the top racing brooms on the market, could be very profitable. But there was a tiny problem with that goal: it was a fool's dream. The Nimbus products had hundreds of years of foundations and research to make their brooms faster. The Firebolt that would come out next year would be even faster than that. Kaiser isn't stupid nor arrogant enough to think he could challenge those companies. At least not when it comes to speed.

As he entered, he was surprised to see that, even though the room was full of rubbish, it was surprisingly clean. 'The house elves truly love cleaning, don't they…' he thought.

He spent an hour looking around, and gathering everything of interest to him, especially brooms. They required special materials compatible with the spells etched on them. And why would he buy said materials, when it was already available to him?

He was surprised to find more than he bargained for. Jewelry, quills, some foreign objects, though some had nasty auras, so he didn't approach them. Thankfully, he learned quite a few detection spells, and could recognize when something was dangerous. He also used a life detection spell, and unsurprisingly, it turned out positive. He wasn't alone in the room, another soul resided there. Rowena's lost diadem. Another reason why he was there.

Actually he wasn't interested in the diadem itself, though it was undeniably one of the greatest artifacts ever created. He knew its capabilities from the blue prints Rowena left. The diadem was useless on him.

But since he'd need to deal with the horcrux problem anyway, he decided to get done with it now. He sent a killing curse at it, and after some shrieking sound was heard, a black smoke rose from the artifact and vanished. Kaiser still performed several detection spells on it to make sure it was safe, before picking it up, praying to the heavens he didn't miss something. Thankfully, nothing happened when he touched it. The diadem was a beautiful piece of art, functionalities aside. It was decorated by different shiny stones of different colors. They alone would cost a fortune. It seemed made of silver, with golden embroideries. Though it had a pattern. Kaiser knew that the diadem's beautiful appearance was a happy coincidence. Everything that was used to make, was there for a reason, to perform a job.

He arranged his findings in a corner of the room, and took with him things he could take, and went back to the Ravenclaw tower.

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It's been three days since he gave away several watches to his friends. Cedric wouldn't exactly qualify as a friend, but he spoke to him on several occasions. Cedric was well liked among his peers, as he was a very nice person. Therefore, Kaiser thought it wise to offer him a prototype, for free publicity purposes. Today, he was sitting on the Ravenclaw table, eating his lunch, and couldn't help but notice the absence of one friend of his.

"Where is Daphne?" He asked Tracey, her closest friend.

"She told me she had some family matters to attend to. She won't be here for a few days, she said." Tracey told him, and Kaiser smirked. He didn't doubt she was showing the device to her father.

Karl Greengrass, Lord of the Greengrass family, and leader of the neutral faction. He was a famous business man, owning several businesses in different areas, mostly magical. He had a wide network of connections, with a lot of people owing him favors. Kaiser did his research, and concluded that having him as a business partner would be beneficial to himself.

"You know, a lot of people are wondering if you could make them one of your watches." Tracey informed him, that the watches are a hot topic right now. Their fellow Ravenclaws' ears perked at that.

"Well, I can't take any requests right now. Apart from the prototypes I made, I didn't make any others. I'm still upgrading the runes, and the more I get distracted, the more time it would take for the final product." Kaiser explained truthfully.

Two days later, Daphne came back to school, acting as if everything was normal. However, after class, she dragged him to an empty classroom.

"I showed your watch to my father." she began. "He was very impressed." Kaiser said nothing, waiting for her to get to the point. "He thinks your project could be successful, and wishes to invest in it. He asked me to organize a meeting with you."

"Alright. But professor Flitwick will have to be present in that meeting. I'm still a minor, after all." Kaiser said.

"Is Saturday alright with you?"

"Yes."

"Perfect."

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"Mr. Lunar. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. My daughter has told me a lot about you." Karl shook Kaiser's hand.

"A pleasure to meet you, Lord Greengrass." he offered a polite smile.

"I must say, I am impressed with your work. One wonders if you could achieve such feat at your age, what the future holds for you." Karl praised.

"Thank you for your praise." the same polite smile never left his face.

"I came here today to discuss the plans you have in store for your new invention." Karl probed. He needed to know what Kaiser had in mind, before deciding on a course of action. He heard a LOT about him from his daughter, and he knew he was dealing with no ordinary child.

"I am looking for a business partner to manage the marketing aspect of the product. As I am but a thirteen years old, I would like to limit what I do to making the product, and focusing on my education and research." Kaiser answered with the same unchanging expression.

"Hmm… That could be arranged. How would you feel about having a team of enchanters help you make the product? It would free your time, and we could produce more with more capable hands. I am acquainted with some of the most accomplished enchanters." Karl proposed.

But Kaiser immediately shook his head. "I'm withholding the blueprints for now."

"My daughter told me your enchantments would last no more than a month. And, I am worried about the rate at which you can produce by yourself. And I'm sure you understand, for the business to run smoothly, we need to make enough profit." Karl reasoned.

"I understand your concern. But the prototype's runes were etched on aluminum. I already know the cheapest way to make the enchantment last for at least six months. It would cost no more than three sickles. It would have to receive a minor treatment to be more accommodating. As for the production rate, I have already optimized the runic structure. I can make a watch every seven minutes. That's 8 watches per hour. I believe I can work for 8 hours a day, meaning around 64 watches a day. That's 448 watches a week. I'll be at Hogwarts the whole summer. That's 3 months of work, therefore around 5800 watches." Kaiser explained. "If we set the price of the watches at 5 galleons, that's 29k galleons, for 3 months of work. That's not considering my learning factor. The more I produce, the more the process becomes second nature to me. I suspect, with enough time, I can bring down the enchantment process to 3 minutes. That would make it 22,4k galleons per month."

Karl was impressed. That didn't seem too bad to start with, and he would be only targeting the general populace with such a price. If he could target the richer populace…

"Can you make the enchantment permanent?" Karl asked.

"Of course. The materials required would cost 3 galleons to do so." Kaiser answered with a knowing smile. Professor Flitwick was watching silently the whole time, and he was quite impressed.

Next they spoke of several points, including how they would operate, how the profit would be split. Kaiser was surprised at how accepting Karl seemed. He agreed that he would get a 30 percent share, but he would get all the profits until his initial investment was paid in full. Under normal circumstances, he would never agree to it. But he had different ideas. He wanted to invest in Kaiser himself. Just from what he heard from his daughter, and the asking around he'd done, he knew provided he lived long enough, he would achieve incredible feats. Also, when Kaiser said he'd use most of the money for his research, his eyes lit up. He could tell Kaiser didn't plan to stop at a mere watch, and had other plans. Besides, he wouldn't lose anything really.

He also asked for a few watches to perform several tests on them by master enchanters, and Kaiser agreed. He knew his work was safe, but people would need proof.